Erika Nadine
Erika Nadine was a Germo-Austrian soldier in the German Armed Forces and an eventual Officer in the Neo-Schutzstaffel. She started as a timid girl who only got through thanks to her mentor in basic training Kelly Rotlich. Over a course of 10 years in the service though, she reached far higher than her mentor had ever been allowed to reach: Lieutenant. In spite of such a position and a rather calm life for a military operative though she still wanted more. The nickname "Cadet" still stuck in her head, as if it were super-glued to her brain. That was when she began to research about the ideals of the Neo-Schutzstaffel. Three years later she retired from the German Armed Forces with a Silver Cross of Honour for her service and secretly joined the NSS. She quickly rose in the ranks in 3 years, becoming one of the high officers, and became one of the key players in fending off Soviet aggression. Much to the angry disapproval of typical German soldiers, she supports the NSS’s alliance with the CS, anticipating fortune and a greater Germany to arise from the ashes as a result. Many, have and will deem her as a traitor. Early Life The woman's early life is generally characterized as being filled with acquaintanceships to silence, rejection, and inferiority. Her accomplishments in turn were rather limited growing up. Magestray Orphanage Erika Nadine was born in a small town in Austria, only a few miles away from the southern German border. Her parents were a German peasant and an Austrian nobleman in a forbidden relationship. With Erika having been a symbol of such a love, she was left on the doorstep of an orphanage. The headmaster of this orphanage named her 'Erika Nadine', which when translated means "all powerful hope." He claims though that Erika was named after Erika Steinbach, a German politician from the early 21st century, and Nadine Gordimer, a South African writer and political activist from the 20th century. Erika spent the first nine years of her life in the orphanage, watching acquaintances come and go and being picked on all the same. It was a lonely existance. As the numbers of children coming into the facility decreased and decreased, so did funding. Soon enough the place was to be closed down. Luckily, for her 10th birthday, she was taken into a reluctant foster family in Germany who tried to raise her well. Failed Fostering The girl recieved a modest education in the same school district for the next seven years. She didn't stand up much for herself. Rather, she watched the number of minorities grow to the point where she was starting to become the replacement minority. She didn't understand why this bothered her, but secretly as the girl became a teenager she started to write about it. All throughout though, Erika kept quiet and on occassion would be the victim of silence. One thing was certain; it was a shorter silence than most, considering she graduated a year earlier than what was expected. When graduation from secondary school came around, she was grateful to be the only 16 year old to claim such a feat. Her foster parents didn't take it well that she graduated so early, feeling she had done too much in one area and not enough in the social area. They were concerned that Erika hadn't adapted well. At first it passed, but as time passed and she didn't do much aside from stay on the computer researching strange topics, they finally forced her off. After heavy pressure and a side-dish of curiosity in the back of her mind, Erika Nadine enlisted to join in the German Armed Forces. Bundeswehr (The Armed Forces) The enlistment into the Bundeswehr was, as said earlier, reluctant at best. From the beginning Erika sensed that being a part of such a faction would spell trouble for her well-being. Basic Training Erika Nadine struggled with some of the most basic of tasks. She passed the initiation test by only a few points, and that was from intellect alone rather than combat know-how. Her ability to use a gun was limited, but so were here basic combat skills and physical fitness to begin with. Very often she was deemed the least likely to pass and was forced into far more rigorous and extreme than the training of her counterparts. The Drill Sergeant, after all, was targetting her to get the failure into shape. ] It was from her hard to control occassional wit that Erika gained the nickname "Cadet". A Cadet, after all, is the lowest possible rank. It was essentially the junior of a junior officer, something that Erika came to despise as much as anything. That was the Drill Sergeant's way of saying "you're the worst here and your only strength isn't even in combat where it counts." This was one of the many things that was starting to break into the little mental stability Nadine had left. Digressing, the other girls were forced to laugh at such a nickname, but one girl refused to partake: Kelly Rotlich, who displayed her own smarts by manipulating the Sergeant into thinking that training Erika would be a punishment rather than a pleasure. Kelly and Erika grew close after this strange turn of events. Kelly's healthy blend of smiling and seriousness proved to be the perfect teacher for Erika, who finally started to catch onto the mechanics of combat. Every aspect of her life improved and soon enough the Drill Sergeant allowed the two of them, alongside computer generated partners and adversaries, to partake in the realistic battle simulations. Kelly would prove her roundedness in every aspect of the battlefield, as would Erika, though the point differences between the two were rather notable. After these many long weeks, all the trainees were able to graduate. On special request, many of the women (four), were to come under the command of the 'top student' training, who became a Sergeant only because of their young age. Tour in the East The lot was soon deployed east, where they were meant to control radicals in a myriad of locations ranging from the southern border of Russia, to the stretched Middle East where radical Islamists were beginning to lose control. Erika obeyed orders and studied everything that went about around her. The heat was annoying, and that was her biggest complaint mostly to herself. She became an expert at calming down could-be extremists and was generally the primary assister in taking down the occassional crazy one. Her combat skills, which weren't too impressive, rarely had to be deployed during the three month tour in what she deemed 'Crazyland'. Her idea of this being 'Crazyland' was proven in the final week before a return to Germany, where her patrolling band was making the returning march through a small town to get back to their base. Outnumbered four to one and surrounded, the firing guns around the team sprayed bullets all about, with only a few actually hitting as Sergeant Rotlich commanded her team to break through the weaker southern band and get to higher ground, while she'd distracted. Nadine broke her selfish attitude, staying back to protect her Sergeant with a ferocity that she was unfamiliar with. Kelly wasn't pleased, especially when her own weapon ran out of ammo and an extremist set his eyes right at the cadet. Kelly charged with a ferocity that made Nadine look like a simpleton, and with lots of improvising was able to be the turning point for the retreat of the hostile band. When walking away from the scene after it seemed secure alongside Sergeant Rotlich, Erika suddenly found herself brought to the ground by Kelly's superior strength and keen hearing (despite her injuries that were quickly growing). The two were survivors of an explosion, with Kelly having nearly sacrificed her life to save Erika, who suffered from shell shock from this event. The team's medic immediately went to treat Kelly first and an emergency airlift was called in. The team was put in the temporary command of the third in command, because both soldiers seemed unfit for combat. The last week of service was overlooked and another team temporarily took over Rotlich's teams duties in light of injuries and bad circumstances. The Aftermath "I still talk to God sometimes, ask if what I'm doing, if I'm supposed to be alive, is all right. I haven't gotten an answer yet..." -Erika Nadine to her therapist (Rough English Translation) Kelly didn't regain consciousness for over a month and her squad was left in the third in command temporarily. Most of Erika's R&R was spent praying for her Sergeant to what looked to be no avail. Whatever the common war doctors were doing, it didn't seem to be working. As days went on, Erika's health began to decline further. Soon enough she began to speak with an army therapist, who had trouble calming the woman. Eventually, High Command took the actions necessary to save Kelly Rotlich, engaging in treatment deemed highly experimental. High Command was surprised in regards to Rotlich's responsiveness. They only expected her to be able to eventually walk again rather than start up again and request reenlistment with the Armed Forces. Erika thought this to be a gift of the Lord rather than the work of cold hard science, and also became rather jealous of Kelly's natural coming abilities in almost everything she did. The two had to seperate, though Nadine was reassured that her abilities were suitable for combat. She was surprised to say the least, but took it in stride. Days of Peacekeeping in Liechtenstein "Peace through superior firepower..." After another tour in the Middle East that went through relative success, Erika spent two tours in Liechtenstein as a Sergeant for a new team. Rather than facing the warfare of small rural towns, deserts (both hot and cold), and fanatics, the new battle was simply that of containing public angst in Liechtenstein regarding declining wealth status, the death of the royal family, and an unexpected rise in organized terrorism in the region. Most of Erika's time in the first half was spent sharpening her weapons skills in the few bases within the small wealthy nation. Her urges to use her gun, the G36c, were frequent, but rarely able to be responded to as the organized terrorists were impressive with hit-and-run tactics. Military intellegence wasn't even assisting in this matter, much to a suspected frustration. More than one year in, Erika was finally allowed to take action. There were rumors that a man in charge of the organized violence was border jumping frequently and gauging support from the edges of other nations, which explained the unusually high number of guessed members involved. Most of them mercenaries with a grudge it seemed. Unorthodoxy At Its Finest Three small teams were dispatched to three seperate locations. As fate would have it, Erika's team was sent to the correct location whereas the other teams were now serving the roles of dispatching officers in the organized reign of terror rather than their leader. With effeciency, the team was able to display the stereotypical German precision and take out all targets. Erika, on the other hand, took her time with the leader, taking more advantage of her limited physical strength to apprehend him rather than to put a bullet in several parts of him. The team was awared for their efforts and recognized specially by High Command for this taboo type of operation normally reserved for the Special Ops portion. Area Secure The rest of the stay was spent patrolling about Liechtenstein's streets, ensuring that no remnants would remain. Too many times did Nadine have to use her weapon in the urban jungle. But like most service members, she eventually got through the second half as a better soldier for it. She stayed all the way to the end of the Army's operation regarding the threat when 'stability' was declared, which was approximately 3 years in length. All members of the German Armed Forces recieved a special award for this service. Austrian Anger Nadine in the midst of her short break read up on increasing Russian influence. Most Germans and Austrians didn't like the way things were going, especially with the annexed territories of the Soviet Union being dangerously close to "western" European nations. It was a common topic that Erika Nadine strongly disliked. She had always thought that the Russians had no business spreading their ideas and trying to corrupt the systems. She was one of the few to speculate that they were the true organizers of Liechtenstein's problems from not so long ago. True to her attitude though, not a word was breathed of it. TO BE CONTINUED Category:Germany Category:Bundeswehr Category:Neo-Schutzstaffel